Outlook for World Energy Prices

Details

December 12, 2007 3:00 AM

Peterson Institute for International Economics, Washington, DC

Event Summary

Summary

The Peterson Institute hosted a meeting to discuss the outlook for world energy prices, and the influence of current US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) policies on them, on December 12, 2007. Visiting Fellow Philip K. Verleger, whose predictions have been uncannily accurate in the past, presented his predictions on a coming rise to sustained triple-digit oil prices and how “mismanagement of the SPR” is accelerating that increase. Dr. Verleger believes that central banks, including the Federal Reserve, are paying insufficient attention to this important supply-side source of inflation and may be making serious policy mistakes as a result.

Dr. Verleger has been described by Paul Krugman in The New York Times as "one of the few really good economists to stay focused on oil when the subject became unfashionable." As president of PKVerleger LLC and a senior adviser to The Brattle Group, a Cambridge economics consulting firm, Dr. Verleger specializes in the study of energy markets. The author of over a hundred articles and books on energy economics, including Adjusting to Volatile Energy Prices, he has served frequently as an expert witness for parties in private disputes and recently testified before the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs. Dr. Verleger has previously held positions at the Council of Economic Advisers, the US Treasury, Yale University, and the University of California, as well as at the Institute.